Another significant factor in the diminishment of Grand Council power, and the assimilation of Mi’kmaq people is the new-found reliance on settler technologies and trade. Specifically, the introduction of European foods, weapons, alcohol, and diseases were quintessential in the wellbeing of Mi’kmaq people and culture. Furthermore, as settlers did not have the same respect on nature and resources as Mi’kmaq people, the negative impacts on nature were catastrophic. Mi’kmaq principles of only taking what you need were not held by settlers, and this caused a quick diminishment of resources which led to further negative impacts on Mi’kmaq people.

“The Mi'kmaq developed a dependency on European goods, a dependency that altered traditional seasonal rounds and technologies. Attainment of furs by and for individual trade rather than for the chief eroded the position of the chief as middleman in Mi'kmaq trade with Europeans. As trade began to alter aspects of traditional society, the establishment of missions in Mi'kmaq territory significantly altered the spiritual context of Mi'kmaq leadership” (MacMillan, 1996). Given one of the key roles of the traditional Grand Council was to negotiate hunting grounds and territory, this settler ideology made this key responsibility obsolete. Furthermore, the reduction in population due to the negative impacts of contact reduced the number of Mi’kmaq people governed by the Grand Council and reduced the amount of individual’s who possessed knowledge of traditional governance practices.

Another factor that decreased the power of the Grand Council, and other Mi’kmaq policies and practices was the fact that Europeans did not recognize Mi’kmaq law or governance practices.

According to MacMillian, “they did recognize that the Mi'kmaq had a form of government but discredited it because it was premised on egalitarianism rather than accumulation of wealth and coercive power in an individual or small unit. The Mi'kmaq Grand Council system was problematic for the Europeans because it was not based on a written legal code of conduct” (1996). It is clear that whether the Europeans recognized a working government system, they say the Mi’kmaq governance structure as inferior, and one that needed replacing.

*Art is an example of Mi'kmaq Rock Art, thought to be a represenation of the 7 districts and district chiefs.

French colonists did not recognize the land as “owned” rather just occupied by the Mi’kmaq people, therefore according to colonial law, this land could be claimed as their own, and Indigenous people’s occupying this land were seen more as a resource or even a nuisance. The changes in traditional territory as resources were depleted or settlers’ occupation of land further depleted the resources of the Mi’kmaq people and ultimately the Grand Council.

Furthermore, societal changes such as the discontinuation of polygyny, due to the new practice of Catholicism, impacted Mi’kmaq family size, and ultimately declined Chief’s power and loyal followers. A declining population continued to add strain on an already struggling governance system.